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Hafizah Osman

Digital transformation underpins Heidelberg 2019 training year

4 September, 2019

The 2019 training year at Heidelberg has kicked off with with digital at the forefront of the company’s training program.

Another 99 young men and women are embarking on their training or dual study courses at one of Heidelberg’s four sites in Germany, with digital content becoming increasingly important in various areas and also making the training program more attractive.

According to Heidelberg, virtual learning content and the use of virtual reality technologies are now standard in many occupational profiles, resulting in the need for training in these technologies.

Heidelberg also regularly reviews the occupations for which training is available and adapts these to requirements.

Andreas Blum, who is in charge of vocational training at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site, said by now also offering training for budding IT specialists, the company is responding to the demand caused by the digital revolution.

Based on the number of applications received, Heidelberg also found that growth in the popularity of dual study courses is continuing.

“We put this down to the increased digital learning content in the various courses. A growing number of digital methods and tools have been introduced in all study and training courses in recent years,” Blum said.

“Not only digital technologies, but above all, well-trained and highly motivated staff are key to a company’s successful digitisation,” added Rainer Haus, who is in charge of vocational training and personnel development at Heidelberg.

“Young employees, or digital natives as we also call them, are the ones who can bring experiences from their own digital environment into the business world and have the courage also to introduce disruptive ideas that drive companies’ progress with digitisation. The wider range of IT-related occupations for which we offer training and dual study courses takes this trend into account.”

Heidelberg Australia managing director Richard Timson told Sprinter that Heidelberg, as a company, has for many years encouraged and employed apprentices and trainees for the future of the business.

“It demonstrates its commitment to the industry in a time where 100 more staff could not be imagined by other suppliers. We get the benefit of highly educated younger people bringing with them enthusiasm and skills that will take the company forward,” he said.

“In Australia, our workforce is fairly stagnant as we scale our workforce to the prevailing market size and conditions. Due to the need for our technical people to hit the road running we generally look for existing staff from other Heidelberg sales and service units.”

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